Sony Sues Tencent Over Light Of Motiram’s Close Ressemblance To Horizon Franchise

Reuters is reporting that Sony has filed a lawsuit against the Chinese conglomerate Tencent for copyright and trademark infringement over Light of Motiram, which Sony calls a “slavish clone of the Horizon games.

According to Sony, Tencent asked Sony of they wanted to collaborate on a new Horizon game after starting work on Light of Motiram. Sony decline but claims that Tencent went ahead and made the game anyway.

“Upon information and belief, sometime in 2023 (and unbeknownst to Sony) Tencent started developing a video game called Light of Motiram which – just like Horizon – features a young, red-headed female protagonist and tribal groups fighting for survival among large robotic animals in a post-apocalyptic world,” the document says.

“In March 2024, at a gaming conference in San Francisco, California, Tencent executives approached Sony with a pitch: to develop its own Horizon game in collaboration with SIE. Sony rejected the idea and considered the matter closed.

“Apparently, Tencent was undeterred by SIE’s refusal to license its Horizon intellectual property,” the document continues. “Tencent continued secretly developing Light of Motiram, eventually announcing a forthcoming game. Tencent’s promotional material bore a strong similarity to SIE’s own Horizon promotional material.”

The suit also points out Light of Motriam’s Steam store page, trailer, promotional screenshots, and gameplay footage all “misappropriated protectable elements of SIE’s copyrights in the Horizon franchise to a significant degree.”

Light of Motriam’s Steam description reads:

“In a world overrun by colossal machines, explore the vast open world, build your base of operations, advance technology, train Mechanimals, and take on formidable bosses. Starting from the primitive age, forge a new path of development. Defy the machination, survive with mechanimals.”

According to Sony, Tencent “willfully infringed” registered Horizon copyrights, as well as the Aloy character trademark. It wants an order preventing Tencent from releasing the game, as well as monetary damages.

Sony also cited online users and websites that have pointed out the similarities.